8TH GRADERS LEARN LAW FROM DOGS

By E.

Published: April 23, 1984

R. SHIPP

CHICAGO, April 22 - Wisconsin has an official bird, the robin, and an official fish, the muskellunge. But the State Legislature recently passed up a chance to adopt the American water spaniel as the official dog, and many lawmakers may be regretting it.

Three years ago, Lyle Brumm, a teacher at the Washington Junior High School in New London, Wis., came up with the idea of a bill to honor the American water spaniel as a way to interest his eighth-grade social studies students in government.

Mr. Brumm, a hunter, knew the story of how a local physician had spent 40 years trying to develop a dog that was small but both a good retriever and a good family dog. In 1920, the doctor's efforts were recognized by the United Kennel Club and in 1940 by the American Kennel Club. The dog became the only purebred native to Wisconsin.

The physician, Dr. Fred J. Pfeifer, was small in stature and so was his hunting partner in this prime duck- hunting area. When they went out with Labradors and Chesapeakes or other large dogs, ''the result was often disastrous,'' Mr. Brumm said.

''The dog would get rambunctious and tip the men over,'' he said.

Since 1981, more than 550 students have taken his classes and have conducted research, written to legislators, drafted a bill to declare the spaniel the state dog, had it introduced and testified at hearings. In the session that ended two weeks ago, the House passed the bill by a vote of 74 to 24.

Then came a hearing before a Senate committee. The chairman announced in advance that the bill would not be passed. Another Senator interrupted the children's testimony with howling and barking.

''The kids were just totally disillusioned,'' Mr. Brumm said.

They may have the last laugh. Journalists across the state castigated the legislators for mocking the children. Parents and dog-lovers and just plain irate citizens bombarded them with letters. Owners of American water spaniels across the nation have offered to finance the students' efforts. The Senate majority leader has asked the students to ''try it again.'' And Gov. Anthony S. Earl will visit them next Thursday.

It has been a year now since the Federal Communications Commission was flooded with complaints against a Dodge City, Kan., radio station, KTTL-FM. At the time a local citizens group asked that the station's license be awarded to them.

The agency, which must grapple with sticky First Amendment issues posed by the case, still has not set a hearing date.

''This is an unusual case in that it has aroused a great hue and cry and gotten so much national attention,'' said W. Jan Gay, an F.C.C. lawyer in Washington, adding: ''We have a whole lot of things we are looking at.'' Back in Dodge City, the station owner, Nellie Babbs, said she has lost all her advertisers and has had to cut back from 24 hours of daily programming to 11.

The hubbub started when Mrs. Babbs, and her estranged husband, Charles, broadcast 45-minute sermons twice-nightly for six months advocating violence against blacks and Jews. The sermons were prepared by two evangelists associated with Posse Comitatus, an extremist vigilante group.

''There's a hate campaign agaainst us,'' Mrs. Babbs said the other day. ''No bombs yet, but lots of threats.'' Most of the members of the citizens group are black, Jewish or Hispanic. They hope to have the Babbses' license revoked.

Hiawatha Bland, a City Commissioner and president of the citizens group, said, ''I'm very optimistic.''

Mrs. Babbs, who has vowed to fight the group's action - ''anything for my God and country'' - said, ''We're in financial distress and take it kind of one day at a time, but, tell me, in America, who's not?''

For all their fancy contraptions, the most scientists can say is that the farther the central United States gets from its last major earthquake, the closer it will be to the next one.

The last great quake was in the winter of 1811-12 and its epicenter was the little town of New Madrid, Mo. Ground motion was felt as far away as Montreal and Washington.

Scientists are convinced that before the year 2000 a major quake will occur along what is now called the New Madrid Fault.

''There would be an impact on 21 states ranging from the western tip of Pennsylvania through the Kansas, and going from northern Illinois into Louisiana,'' said Frank P. Begley. He is directing the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Central United States Earthquake Preparedness Project.

Last week the agency awarded a $300,000 grant to a consortium of seven states, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, for the development of a response plan.

Studies are now under way at the United States Geological Survey, Purdue University, St. Louis University and Memphis State University.

Mr. Begley, who is in Kansas City, Mo., had his own plan. ''I think I'll move,'' he said, laughing.